Purpose - The purpose of this master thesis is to examine individual social media behaviour in relation to corporate sustainability issues. Based on a model from environmental psychology, factors that influence this behaviour are identified. Methodology/approach - The study followed an explanatory and qualitative approach. Three focus groups, that consisted of 19 students in total, were conducted. Findings - Key findings are (1) the level of social media activity with regard to corporate sustainability issues is not directly connected to the students’ awareness and knowledge of sustainability issues; (2) responsibility and priorities have a weaker influence on social media than on offline behaviour; (3) the perceived locus of control can prevent students from communicating about corporate sustainability in social media; (4) students with high knowledge on sustainability are less inclined to trust corporate sustainability communication. Research limitations/implications - To further examine individual social media behaviour in relation to corporate sustainability issues, future research needs to apply long-term studies with bigger samples. Furthermore, participants with different socio-economic characteristics should be compared to see if key factors, relations, and barriers that have been the result of this study, are also true for other socio-economic groups. Practical implications - The study’s findings suggest that corporations need to consider three main issues if they want to inform and engage individuals in corporate sustainability activities via social media: (1) content has to be tailored for target groups with different levels of knowledge on sustainability issues; (2) third-party-endorsements significantly support the creation of confidence in the communication of corporate sustainability activities and are therefore crucial; (3) detailed replies to critical comments from individual users help to create trust and transparency. Originality/value - This study differs from previous research on social media in two ways: (1) it focuses on social media’s empowerment potential for sustainability instead of political issues; (2) it addresses the gap on individuals’ reasons to actively participate in social media.

Over the last two decades research into the notion of empowerment has been focused on the three primary dimensions of process, outcomes and environment within the contexts of the individual, community groups and business organisations. As a psychological attribute, empowerment at the individual level has been investigated significantly by such theorists as Rappaport (1995) and Zimmerman (2000). However, studies in this field neglect deep understanding of the reality of the individual's experiences of the empowerment process. Definitions within the literature refer to empowerment as being a process which occurs over time for the individual who is personally challenged to achieve power and control within his/her own life context by the application and reflection of learning new knowledge and skills. The purpose of this investigative case study is to examine the reality of the empowerment process as it occurs in the individual lives of a group of women who have actively participated in the learning environment of an investment club over a 2 year period in Brisbane. The three dimensions of empowerment support the structure of the study with the findings evidencing 'authentic empowerment' is achieved when the individual seeks to operate within the dual learning environments of the supportive group as well as the solo learning environment. The reality of individual authentic empowerment proved to be a continuum of experience dependent upon the individual's levels of motivation, energy, decision-making abilities, knowledge, risk taking, confidence, time and goals. Sustainability of empowerment related to the participant's level of active involvement in the dual learning environments while accepting complete responsibility for actions and consequences.